Hiii can anyone HELP me????

Hi
I am new to the website and I just had one question.

I have been really unwell for the last month, really pale and tired so the doctor did some blood tests and called me.
He said that I either have thalassemia or anaemia.

Although I am 19 and thought that thalassemia was a condition since birth is it possible to develope at the age of 19?

Thanks
Sarah

Hello Sarah and welcome to the site

Concerning your question,you are right thalassemia major is diagnoised after few months from birth.

But there are two other classifications of thalassemia which are thalassemia intermedia and thalassemia minor. Intermedia is when you have two muted genes but still your body can produce some good hb and the hb in intermedia ranges between 6 to 10 and it can be diagnoised at a later stage in life.

While thal minor is having one muted gene, meaning you are a carrier of the disease, in other words you can pass the disease to your children IF your partner is a carrier too (25% chance ). Usually thal minor cases ranges from having anemia with some symptoms to not having any symptoms at all.

But first you should eliminate the possibility of having iron deficiency anemia ( different kind of anemia that differes from thalassemia) which is determined by having a full iron study to check your levels.

Blood Electrophoresis test, is the name of the test that determines  whether you are a carrier of thalassemia or not.

Sarah, how much is your HB level??

You can also read more about thal in these links

http://www.thalassemiapatientsandfriends.com/index.php?topic=1571.0

http://www.thalassemiapatientsandfriends.com/index.php?topic=1575.0

Please feel free to ask what ever you want

manal

Hi Sarah,

  Manal has covered almost everything,please check your hb levels and ask for Hb Electrophoresis,and don't take any iron supplements until its confirmed that you have iron defficiency,which can be determined by iron studies tests.

Good luck ,

Zaini.